


Genesis 1:27

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s07e17 Requiem, F/M, First Time, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-22
Updated: 2007-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-15 13:48:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14791658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: CJ reflects





	Genesis 1:27

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: Revised June 2007:

Until April 2006, I could never have imagined myself writing fan fiction, even for a television show I loved as much as I loved, and still love, The West Wing.

However, the four CJ/Danny shows of season seven – “The Ticket”, “Internal Displacement”, “Requiem”, and “Institutional Memory” -- began to tug at my psyche. At first, it was a small tug, wondering what that “first time” to which “Requiem” alluded was like, and I wrote “Genesis 1:27”. Then I began to wonder about what happened after Danny said “What else?” in “Institutional Memory”, and “Twelfth of Never” was born.

In the forums, some of us felt we had been cheated by the little snippets we had been given. But then, we began to realize that by leaving us with only hints, the owners of CJ and Danny gave us the right to let our imaginations take CJ and Danny to so many dimensions, to so many variants of our own West Wing universes. And we also began to talk of a CJ/Danny spin-off, much like “Frasier” arose from the ashes of “Cheers”.

“Holding Hands on the Way Down” is my own little attempt at such a series. The basis of it is Danny’s statement “You’re gonna get good at it; we’re both gonna get good at new things.”

I started out wanting to write only CJ and Danny, but a funny thing happened along the way. Some of the other West Wing folk came to me and wanted me to tell their stories. CJ and Danny were not the only people who would get good at new things.Also, the new people in CJ and Danny’s life also said “I think you should talk about me, develop me, flesh out me.”

And then came the day that I brought back into CJ’s life an old love, and a second series, totally alternative and “not gonna happen”, has also ensorcelled my muse. This second series (“Fold in Gently”) has allowed me to explore my ideas on how to make my Celtic mysticism work with my Catholic faith, how to explore the idea that there are “more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.

Writing this series has given me a new passion in life. My old passion, my career, is winding down – by September 2013, I hope to be retired from my life’s work. My new passion, creative writing, may never go beyond these pieces of fan fiction, and will certainly never see professional print, but it moves my soul.

I want to thank everyone for their input, especially Eleanor, who has given me so much advice and so many suggestions for improvement. My intention is, as I get the chance, to make improvements to the chapters posted here. However, I intend to leave the chapters as posted on fanfiction.net as they are, to show how I have improved (at least I think I’ve improved) as a writer over the past 200,000 plus words.  


* * *

CJ/Danny. Maybe PG-13. Spoilers: through "Requiem.  
The characters belong to Sorkin, Wells, et. al. Depending on your beliefs, the quotes belong to someone unknown, to Moses, or to God.

She stretched carefully, not wanting to wake him or to move from the warmth of his arm draped over her. So this is what it is supposed to feel like. How could she have ever imagined? She felt calm, secure, safe. She felt protected and cherished. This was beyond any question of gender, equality, or societal role.

Yet, from that day almost seven years ago when, with the gentle authority of a man secure in his masculinity, his hand cupped the back of her head and silenced her babbling with his mouth, something in her knew that it would be this way.

Her mind went back seven months. She had been in New Hampshire with the First Family for Easter weekend and decided, on a whim, to go with them to Easter Vigil services. As a child, her family had never done what they called "Easter Midnight Mass", preferring to go to the late morning Mass on Sunday, and, as an adult "Christmas and Easter Catholic", she continued the practice on those occasions when she needed the "fix".

Zoey explained that they would start outside the church where a fire would be lit.The Easter Candle would be lit from that fire and then carried into the darkened church by the deacon. The servers would light tapers from the candle and as the congregation entered the building, they would light their tapers from those held by the servers. There would be seven readings from the Old Testament, ("Fourteen if you count the psalms that are sung after each of them", Annie chimed in), all read in darkness by a tiny penlight over the lectionary. Then the lights would come on and the Gloria would be sung. There would be an epistle, a gospel, and a homily. Any non-baptized converts would be baptized and those converts who had already been baptized in another Christian faith would formally accept the teachings of the church. The rest of Mass would follow. It would take close to three hours. "Dad always does the parting of the Red Sea reading", Ellie added.

But it was not the President's voice intoning "The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord" she was remembering. It was that of the middle-aged woman who read the creation story as if it were a tale of awe and wonder.

"Male and female he created them"


End file.
